MINI BATTLE OF THE BAY:

NEWPORT BEACH — For freshman football players at Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools, prom and graduation are seemingly light years away. So, for many, their first lifelong high school memory was forged in the annual football showdown between Back Bay rivals Thursday at Newport Harbor.

And while newspaper clippings may one day be required to conjure the full details, X-ray negatives might also serve as nostalgic visual aids for some of the Sea Kings, after the visitors were beaten up in a 54-21 beatdown that realistically wasn’t that close.

“[The Sailors] out-hit us, they out-hit us and they out-hit us,” CdM Coach Gary Almquist said. “Cole Cottrell, our wide receiver, is at Hoag [Hospital] with a concussion and our starting strong safety, Joe Ctvrtlik, is at Hoag with a separated shoulder.”

CdM defensive tackle Devin Ruzbezen was also sidelined early in the second quarter with what Almquist said may be a strained anterior cruciate ligament.

Newport Harbor Coach Joe Urban said his team’s physical play was no accident.

“Playing physical football is something we really stressed this week,” Urban said. “I think that was the difference here.

“This is a big game and we tell the kids they are going to be playing these [Sea Kings] for three more years after this. You want to make sure they respect how hard you work and how important it is to you to play hard. Even when we had the reserves in in the second half, we were telling them ‘Hey, we play hard. It doesn’t matter what the score is.’ ”

The Sailors (2-1), who defeated Aliso Niguel, 59-0, in their opener before falling, 28-6, to Long Beach Poly last week, made sure little mattered after halftime, as they rolled up 38 points in a dominant 10-minute second quarter.

Newport Harbor fumbled the ball away on its second play and CdM (1-3) moved 48 yards on four plays to the Sailors’ one-yard line. But the Tars completed a goal-line stand, then went 96 yards on nine plays to open the scoring.

Quarterback Cole Blower capped the drive with a two-yard keeper, then ran for the two-point conversion.

Blower returned an interception 85 yards for the hosts’ next touchdown and added another scoring run. His big day included a pair of two-point conversion runs and three two-point passes.

Tailback/safety AJ Swies was another of the Sailors’ stars. His 93-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter capped a 184-yard rushing performance on just 10 carries. He also made a one-handed catch on a two-point conversion pass and sparkled defensively.

Fullback Buzzy Yokoyama had touchdown runs of 10 and 29 yards and he returned an interception 30 yards to the CdM 28 to set up another TD that completed the 54-0 first-half blitz.

Swies and Yokoyama accounted for 253 of the Tars’ 299 rushing yards, operating behind an offensive line bolstered by powerful Grant Frazier’s shift from fullback to left guard, Urban said.

“That [position change] was one of the big things that happened for us this week,” Urban said. “He just elevated our offensive line play [along with starting tackles Nico Deal and Dalton Jensen, guard Ted Barry and center Aaron White]. AJ and Buzzy had some holes to run through, whereas last week, we kind of struggled running the ball.”

Barry recovered a fumble in the end zone for the first of five second-quarter touchdowns as Newport scored 38 points in a span of 6 minutes, 29 seconds.

White, also a linebacker, had an interception for the Sailors, who began putting in their reserves before intermission and sat their starters during the final two quarters, during which the clock was allowed to run.

Tim Root and Erik Fisher ran for touchdowns of 37 and 11 yards, respectively, and Root scored on a 50-yard pass connection with quarterback Brett Lawson to help the Sea Kings cut into the deficit after halftime.

Lawson, pressured consistently by a Sailors’ front seven that included linebackers Yokoyama, Frazier and White, as well as linemen Deal, Vincent Aqueveque, Hunter Durante, Max Caitlin and Barry, finished with 238 passing yards.

Root had 101 yards on four receptions, while Fisher netted 40 of his 62 rushing yards after halftime.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].